Potential for increased wind-generated electricity utilization using heat pumps in urban areas

• Published in: Applied energy Vol. 135; pp. 634 - 642
• Main Authors: Waite, Michael, Modi, Vijay
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 15.12.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Devices using thermal energy; Electric potential; Electricity; Electricity consumption; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Heat pumps; Natural energy; Reduction; Renewable energy resources; Space heating; Systems integration; Urban energy; Utilization; Wind energy; Wind power; USA, New York, New York City; Urban energy; Heat pumps; Wind power; Systems integration; Renewable energy resources; Wind energy; Energy resources; Electricity; Renewable energy; Heat pump; Urban area; Electric power production
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.04.059

•Large-scale wind power and increased electric heat pumps were evaluated.•A deterministic model of wind power and electricity demand was developed.•Sub-models for space heating and domestic hot water demand were developed.•Increased use of heat pumps can improve the viability of large-scale wind power.•Larger wind power capacity can meet a target utilization rate with more heat pumps. The U.S. has substantial wind power potential, but given wind’s intermittent availability and misalignment with electricity demand profiles, large-scale deployment of wind turbines could result in high electricity costs due to energy storage requirements or low utilization rates. While fuel switching and heat pumps have been proposed as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy reduction strategies at the building scale, this paper shows that heat pump adoption could have additional system-wide benefits by increasing the utilization of wind-generated electricity. A model was developed to evaluate the effects of coupling large-scale wind power installations in New York State with increased use of electric heat pumps to meet a portion of space heating and domestic hot water (DHW) demands in New York City. The analysis showed significant increases in wind-generated electricity utilization with increased use of heat pumps, allowing for higher installed capacity of wind power. One scenario indicates that 78.5% annual wind-generated electricity utilization can be achieved with 3GW of installed wind power capacity generated electricity equal to 20% of existing NYC annual electricity demand; if 20% of space heating and DHW demands are provided by heat pumps, the 78.5% utilization rate can be achieved with an increase of total wind power capacity to 5GW. Therefore, this integrated supply–demand approach could provide additional system-wide emissions reductions.